Prime Minister no. 8
Vlad Filat
Term ended- Cumulative time in office
- 1308 days
- PM affiliation
- Liberal Democratic Party
- Born
- 6 May 1969, Lăpușna, raionul Hîncești, RSS Moldovenească
- Previous office
- Member of Parliament (2005-2009); leader of the PLDM
Cabinets
Not officially confirmed
The points below come from the press or encyclopedias and could not be checked against Parliament decisions, decrees or the Official Gazette.
- The first cabinet formally ended on 14 January 2011, when the second was invested. According to alegeri.md, the government was in caretaker mode from 27 December 2010; this date was not confirmed from an official act.
- President
- Mihai Ghimpu (președinte interimar)
- Political backing
- Alliance for European Integration (PLDM, PD, PL, AMN)
- How the mandate began
- Decree by acting president Mihai Ghimpu on 25 September 2009; confidence vote the same day: 53 of 101 votes (Alliance for European Integration).
- How it ended
- After the early election of 28 November 2010, the cabinet stayed on as a caretaker until the new government was invested on 14 January 2011.
- President
- Marian Lupu (președinte interimar); ulterior Nicolae Timofti
- Political backing
- AIE (PLDM, PD, PL) - 59 seats
- How the mandate began
- Decree by acting president Marian Lupu; confidence vote on 14 January 2011: 59 of 101 votes (AIE).
- How it ended
- On 5 March 2013 Parliament adopted a PCRM-initiated no-confidence motion by 54 votes (51 needed) amid the collapse of the AIE. On 8 March Filat tendered the government's resignation and President Timofti accepted it by decree, leaving the cabinet in a caretaker capacity. On 10 April Timofti renominated Filat, but the Constitutional Court declared that decree unconstitutional on 22 April; on 23 April Timofti signed the decree making Iurie Leancă interim prime minister from 25 April 2013.
Events
- 2009: on 25 September the AIE government was invested by 53 votes.
- 2010: in January talks on the Association Agreement and the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area with the EU began.
- 2010: an early election was held on 28 November; on 28-30 December Filat served as acting head of state.
- 2011: re-invested on 14 January with 59 votes; on 24 January Moldova received the EU action plan on visa liberalisation.
- 2012: on 24 July the interior and education ministers were replaced (Dorin Recean, Maia Sandu); Chișinău International Airport was conceded for 49 years, a contested decision.
- 2013: on 5 March Parliament passed the no-confidence motion by 54 votes; on 8 March the government resigned and stayed on as a caretaker; on 25 April Iurie Leancă became acting PM.
Cabinet composition
Cabinet composition: Filat I Cabinet 22 members
| Name | Position | Party |
|---|---|---|
| Vlad Filat | Prim-ministru | PLDM |
| Ion Negrei | Viceprim-ministru pentru probleme sociale | PL |
| Victor Osipov | Viceprim-ministru pentru reintegrare | AMN |
| Victor Bodiu | Ministru de stat | PLDM |
| Valeriu Lazăr | Viceprim-ministru, ministru al economiei | PDM |
| Iurie Leancă | Viceprim-ministru, ministru al afacerilor externe și integrării europene | PLDM |
| Veaceslav Negruța | Ministru al finanțelor | PLDM |
| Alexandru Tănase | Ministru al justiției | PLDM |
| Victor Catan | Ministru al afacerilor interne | PLDM |
| Vitalie Marinuța | Ministru al apărării | PL |
| Marcel Răducan | Ministru al construcțiilor și dezvoltării regionale | PDM |
| Valeriu Cosarciuc | Ministru al agriculturii și industriei alimentare | AMN |
| Anatol Șalaru | Ministru al transporturilor și infrastructurii drumurilor | PL |
| Gheorghe Șalaru | Ministru al mediului | PL |
| Leonid Bujor | Ministru al educației | AMN |
| Boris Focșa | Ministru al culturii | PDM |
| Valentina Buliga | Ministru al muncii, protecției sociale și familiei | PDM |
| Vladimir Hotineanu | Ministru al sănătății | PLDM |
| Ion Cebanu | Ministru al tineretului și sportului | PL |
| Alexandru Oleinic | Ministru al tehnologiilor informaționale și comunicațiilor | AMN |
| Mihail Formuzal | Guvernator al Găgăuziei | |
| Gheorghe Duca | Președinte al Academiei de Științe a Moldovei |
Initial composition; later changes may be missing. Position titles are given in Romanian, as in the source. Source: alegeri.md (secondary source).
Cabinet composition: Filat II Cabinet 21 members
| Name | Position | Party |
|---|---|---|
| Vlad Filat | Prim-ministru | PLDM |
| Mihai Moldovanu | Viceprim-ministru pentru probleme sociale | PL |
| Eugen Carpov | Viceprim-ministru pentru reintegrare | PLDM |
| Valeriu Lazăr | Viceprim-ministru, ministru al economiei | PDM |
| Iurie Leancă | Viceprim-ministru, ministru al afacerilor externe și integrării europene | PLDM |
| Veaceslav Negruța | Ministru al finanțelor | PLDM |
| Alexandru Tănase | Ministru al justiției | PLDM |
| Alexei Roibu | Ministru al afacerilor interne | PLDM |
| Vitalie Marinuța | Ministru al apărării | PL |
| Marcel Răducan | Ministru al dezvoltării regionale și construcțiilor | PDM |
| Vasile Bumacov | Ministru al agriculturii și industriei alimentare | PLDM |
| Anatol Șalaru | Ministru al transporturilor și infrastructurii drumurilor | PL |
| Gheorghe Șalaru | Ministru al mediului | PL |
| Mihai Șleahtițchi | Ministru al educației | PLDM |
| Boris Focșa | Ministru al culturii | PDM |
| Valentina Buliga | Ministru al muncii, protecției sociale și familiei | PDM |
| Andrei Usatîi | Ministru al sănătății | PLDM |
| Ion Cebanu | Ministru al tineretului și sportului | PL |
| Pavel Filip | Ministru al tehnologiei informației și comunicațiilor | PDM |
| Mihail Formuzal | Guvernator al Găgăuziei | |
| Gheorghe Duca | Președinte al Academiei de Științe a Moldovei |
Initial composition; later changes may be missing. Position titles are given in Romanian, as in the source. Source: alegeri.md (secondary source).
Education
Law at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași (1990-1994).
Background
Party: Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova (PLDM), founder and leader from 2007
Vlad Filat was born in 1969 in Lăpușna village. After service in the Soviet border troops he studied law in Iași and ran companies in Romania (1994-1998). Back in Moldova from 1998, he headed the privatisation department and served as minister of state in the Sturza government (1999).
He became a vice-president of the Democratic Party, left it in 2007 and founded the PLDM. After the July 2009 election he became the Alliance for European Integration's candidate for prime minister, ending the Communist governments that had lasted since 2001.
He led two governments whose foreign policy centred on EU rapprochement: talks on the Association Agreement and a visa-liberalisation plan. His tenure was also marked by coalition feuds and corruption scandals, and in March 2013 the government was brought down by a no-confidence vote. In 2016 he was sentenced to nine years in prison in a corruption case, after Parliament lifted his immunity in 2015.
After office
He remained PLDM leader and an MP (elected November 2014). Parliament lifted his immunity on 15 October 2015 (79 votes); in 2016 he was sentenced to nine years for passive corruption and influence peddling, was conditionally released in 2019, and in 2023 the ECtHR found a fair-trial violation.